[5.04] Exceptional Stars

As part of our Interdisciplinary Scientist effort (PI,
Kulkarni) for the Space Interferometry Mission (SIM) we
proposed an investigation with SIM of a number of
exceptional stars. With SIM we plan to observe dozens of
nearby white dwarfs and search for planets surviving the
evolution away from the main sequence as well as (newly
formed) planets formed in the circumbinary disks of post-AGB
binaries or as a result of white dwarf mergers. We propose
to measure the proper motion of a sample of X-ray binaries
and Be star binaries with the view of understanding the
originof high latitude objects and inferring natal kicks and
pre-supernova orbits. We plan to observe several compact
object binaries to determine the mass of the compact star.
Of particular importance is the proposed observation of SS
433 (for which we propose to use the spectrometer on SIM to
measure the proper motion of the emission line clumps
embedded in the relativistic jets). Separately we are
investigating the issue of frame tie between SIM and the
ecliptic frame (by observing binary millisecond pulsars with
SIM; the position of these objects is very well determined
by pulsar timing) and the degree to which highly precise
visibility amplitude measurements can be inverted to infer
binary parameters.